Nakata Jin

Jin was an Earth shugenja of the Crab clan. He died while fighting a lich, and was reincarnated as a long-dead member of the snake clan, Chuda Shinobu.

Character Quick Facts
Race Human, Silverstari (Crab clan, Kuni family)
Weapon of choice Magic, earth element
Religion The Kami
Current Location Dead (See Chuda Shinobu)
Role Magical combat & Advice

Physical Description

jin.jpg

Jin is a very solidly built man, who appears to be in his late 30s or early 40s. He has the black hair typical of Silverstars, kept long and tied in a ponytail. His face is angular, and while not scarred like many Crab, his features are heavily weathered from his time in the shadowlands. His movements tend to be slow and measured, and he rarely makes an unneccesary motion. He has a tattoo of a snake wrapped around each of his forearms, but these are normally covered by his haori.

History

Birth and early life

Originally born to the Chuda (Serpent) clan under the name of Chuda Kurōto (中田 玄人), Jin's parents (Keitou 敬郎 and Takami 猛美) were two of the very few remaining members of the Chuda clan who had not given themselves over to the Taint. The clan was all but destroyed in an attempt to remove this stain on the honour of Silverstar, and so Jin's parents felt that it would be best to ally themselves with another clan, and give their son the opportunity to grow up in a more pure and wholesome environment. Of course, joining with one of the stronger clans in the empire would also give them a chance to contribute something more to the empire. And so the three of them wandered the land in search of someone who would take them in.

Soon after they set out, though, the family was attacked by a great and terrible oni. Jin's father died fighting the beast, giving up his life to take it down and allow his wife and son to escape. They fled for days, and as their journey continued, Jin’s mother grew sicker and weaker. Takami had been exposed to the Taint during their time at Chuda, and although she was no longer in the shadowlands, its infectious cancer strengthened its hold on her. By the time she managed to find somebody, she was at death's door, delirious and incoherent, and barely able to speak to the man she had met, a shugenja of the Crab clan named Kuni Akira.

Adoption to the Crab

Akira recognised what had happened to the mother, and in an act of kindness, beheaded her and buried the body. Realising that the young child would be doomed if he were left alone in the wild, the shugenja took him in to raise as his own. Akira’s wisdom and insight soon gave him a hint at the potential that the boy had within him, and so he began to teach his adopted son the ways of life in the Crab clan, the formalities and subtle manners of the Silverstar court, and most importantly the mysterious and occult secrets of the nenshugendo. The boy absorbed himself in this learning, as it occupied his mind, and gave him a hope of working to avenge his parents. It was not long before he came of age.

Akira saw that his adopted son was eager to venture into the shadowlands on his gempukku, and despite his reservations knew that it was time for him to prove himself. Such an activity would mean being presented to society at large, however, and although Akira knew that the boy shared none of the tendencies towards maho that claimed so many of the Chuda, he also realised that the members of court would be prejudiced to the boy based solely on his name, and so decided to rename him Nakata Jin (中田 人).

Gempukku

TODO

Marriage

The family accepted this new addition to clan, and soon a marriage was arranged between Jin and a fierce female samurai named Kuni Hinako. It was a happy marriage, and there was a real love between the pair (at least, as far as society would allow them to show it for each other) that was matched only by their mutual hatred for all things tainted. The pair acquired a degree of fame for their ventures into the shadowlands, where they did well in fighting back the tainted creatures found there, she with her sword and he with his magics.

It was after a mission to the shadowlands that Hinako went on without Jin, that the terrible news arrived. One of the samurai who had been on the mission with his wife, told Jin that his wife had been taken by the shadowlands. They had been attacked by a beast that none of them had ever seen before, but which all had heard of - the great demon Kyofu . Hinako was one of the few in the group that held her ground and stood up to the demon, while the rest ran in fear. The samurai who told Jin this had seen her struck down, and when he last looked back he saw her stumble back to her feet, already become a servant of the shadow.

Life alone

Upon hearing the news, Jin flew into a rage. He wept and screamed at the heavens, raging about the house and destroying many of his valuable possessions, and then locked himself in a room for seven days and seven nights. At the end of his self-imposed isolation, he emerged a different man. Though he seemed very thin and wasted from going so long without food, he also seem serene. He instructed his servants to hold the full mourning rituals for his wife, and mourned her as though she were dead. Many who saw him thought he was merely restraining himself, and holding back the emotions that had first gripped him; however, while locked inside the room he experienced something that he did not tell anybody - he felt the touch of the Kamis, and swore to take revenge for his wife, his parents, and all who had been taken by the evils of the shadowlands. Whether any Kami had anything to do with this revelation is unknown by anybody, but what was certain was that he seemed more composed, more assured and more powerful than ever before.

He threw himself into studying through his books, and soon after he exhausted his own collection, he began seeking out more knowledge. It soon became apparent that the knowledge required to defeat the great demon lord would not be found anywhere in the lands of Silverstar, so he set out to the west to try to become more powerful, in the hope that he could one day purge the land of the demon lord Kyofu.

Possessions

Headband of Chuda
The only remaining memento that Jin has of his birth-clan, the Chuda, this headband appears as a simple red string, holding a small sigil of jade in the centre of Jin's forehead. Focusing his thoughts on this sigil allows Jin to focus his thoughts more clearly, and seems to help his powers of recollection.
Isawa's Sacred Scroll
One of a number created by Isawa Hirotoshi of the Phoenix clan, Jin received this scroll as a parting gift from his old mentor and adoptive father Akira, when he left to wed Hinako. This mystical scroll is always carried within a special pouch inside Jin's haori. It was enchanted to be much stronger, and yet with much thinner paper than a regular scroll, and thus it can carry a huge repository of knowledge.
Prayer necklace
This necklace was one of a pair - the other was worn by his wife Hinako. It is a simple string of crystal beads, interspersed with 10 white pearls. The two necklaces were given to the couple as a wedding gift by the bride's father, Kuni Goemon. Jin is able to draw power from the pearls, to further enhance his magical prowess.
Wedding ring
The ring given to Jin by Hinako at their wedding, this ornately wrought steel band with a piece of amber is infused with his wife's loving and protective feelings. Jin swears that more than once, he has felt his wife's spirit nudging a blade or arrow out of the way.
Daisho
(wakizashi and katana) As a noble member of Silverstar society, Jin has a set of daisho given to him by his adoptive father upon completing his Gempukku. The katana generally remains at home, but Jin always carries the wakizashi with him, tucked into his sash. Only on the most official and ceremonial occasions does Jin bring both blades with him.
Haori and Hakama
Unless either attending some kind of formal ceremony, or relaxing in the privacy of his own home, Jin generally wears this traditional Silverstar-style costume, in the colours of the crab (purple and grey). It is durable, comfortable, and aside from having recently become slightly worn and tattered, it is utterly unremarkable.
Bracers
His wife's lacquered bracers, Jin gave these as a wedding gift to Hida Sang.

Current Status

Jin died while fighting a Lich, in an attempt to prevent a new Shadowlands from appearing in the middle of the Crab city of ???. He was laid to rest while his companions attempted to retrieve his soul from the shadowlands.

He was later reborn as the reincarnation of Chuda Shinobu, though it remains to be determined how much is his mind and soul, and how much is Shinobu's.

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